Head rest for basins and the like



June 6, l w 5 RICKARD 2,161,590

HEAD REST FOR BASINS AND THE LIKE Filed March 5, 1938 Patented June 6,1939 a 2,161,590

, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,161,590 'HEAD BEST FOR BASINS AND T mLIKE William s. Rickard, Chicago,-Ill. Application March 5, 1938, SerialNo. 194,044 1 claim. (01. e459) The present invention relates toimprovements appearance so that it will not materially detract in headrests for basins and the like, and is .difrom appearances, no matterwhere attached. rected particularly to a head rest designed for Theconstruction of the head rest'and securuse in shampooing and washinghair that is ing means with at least an exteriorsurface of .5 adapted tobe used particularly in homes, but non-metallic resilient material, suchas .rub-

which may be used with equal facility and with her, also eliminatesstructural parts that are the same resultant advantages in ladies hairlikely to rust after continued use and contact by dressingestablishments and barber shops. Water and other liquids.

A-primary object of'the invention is to provide Other'cbjectsandiadvantages of the present ,a new and improved headrest having onesurinvention will become more apparent from the 10 face upon which theback of the head is adaptensuing description thereof in the course of edto rest and a second surface having mounted which reference is had tothe accompanying thereon means adapted to secure the head rest drawing,in which: 7 to either flat or rounded surfaces of the rims of Fig. 1 isa perspective view showing the mode 5 basins, wash bowls, bath tubs, orother fixtures. of attachment and use of the head rest of the 5 A morespecific object of the invention is to present inventiom-the head restbeing shown inprovide a new and improved head rest constructstalled upona wash bowl provided with a rim ed of resilient non-metallic materialhaving a havinga substantially fiat 'surface; pair of opposed surfacesspaced a substantial Fig. 2 is a perspective viewv showing the headdistance apart, one of which is configured comrest mounted upon a bathtub constructed with ,20

t head rest that is both readily attachable to and fortably to receivethe back of the head and the a rim av a ed su e;

other to mount suction cups having at least an Fig. 3iis an enlargedside elevation ofthe head exterior surface of resilient non-metallicmatet t e rial thereby to provide a head rest that prevents Fig 4 is a to V ew Of the head rest shown the head from contacting any metallicsurfaces n d 1 f 25 of fixt r upon which the h d re t may b Fig. 5 is across-sectional view,'taken along the mounted or any metalthat may beused in the l e 5 of Fig. 3.

costruction of the head rest itself. Referring first to it y b n t Ahead rest constructed in accordance with the the head s of the presentinvention, which is present invention has not only the advantageindicated generally y reference numeral s .30

already enumerated, but hastheadditional admounted directly p t flat ppr Su ce of vantage that it is extremely sanitary. Ihis rethe m Ora h w'4- vWhen s0 mountsults primarily from the fact that it is adapted. edit relatively high 513001 15 y be p d n to be secured directly to eitherthe fiat or roundfront of the bowl accommodate a p on S0 1 ed surfacesof the rims of such fixtures as a basin, vthat the k the head y bePlaced p .35

wash bowl, bath tub, or the like. Consequently, the'lupper surfaceOflthe su p rt. W n the perafter use it can be detached from the surfaceSon is positioned, the hair y b bo 0011- of the fixture and the surface,and likewise the Vehiently a easily Washed, r sed o otherwise head restitself, can.be,readily cleansed. Fureat -,Irhe back 0 the ea a d neckare thermore when the head rest is used by e kept a substantial distancefrom the bowl sur- 4 than one person, it can be covered, if desired, byface, thereby eliminating the .uheomfertable e towels or the like, whichare replaced after use .i arising contactwith its metallic by anindividual. face 7 The head rest may be mounted also u n Anoth r advantae resultln from IOVldlIl a Po 8 g g p g rounded surfaces of fixtures asillustrated in Fig. .45

detachable from fixtures is that after use it can where the had rest 18shown mounted upo-n be stored in a cabinet or other out of the waythe-rounded mm 20 of the-bath tub In this case the stool 24 should bemade considerably place- Thus 1t does not detract m any Way from lowerthan the stool l6, because of the relative t h j h of elther t fixtureor rcfom heights of therimsof the two fixtures. While 1h Whlch 1t 15used- Thls advantage 15 of no person has been illustrated in Fig. 2, itshould portance when the device is used in individual be apparent t t;one may b Seated upon t O e Q in this connection, it y b stool 24 withthe back of the head resting upon noted that the head rest of thepresent inven-- the head rest Ill, just asillustrated in Fig. 1. In

tion may be constructed with a pleasing external order to provide aconvenient'source of water 55 for use in shampooing and rinsing thehair, it is preferable that a spray 26 attachable to the faucet be used.

The head rest In may be considered as consisting of two major parts,these being therelatively wide support 30 and the means 32 for securingthe support to either flat or rounded surfaces of fixtures such as thoseillustrated in Figs. 1 and 2. The support 30 is made of some relativelyresilient non-metallic material, such as rubber having a texturecorresponding to that used in rubber heels and the like. The rubbershould be of a grade not affected either by wa ter or by the variousmaterials used in sham-- pooing the hair. Comfort to the user isprovided not only by making the support 30 of rub-- her, but also bymaking the upper surface 34..

thereof concave in configuration, as illustrated in Fig. 3. i I

In order to avoid, as far as possible, the likelihood of the body of theperson contacting the metal of the fixture upon which the head rest ismounted, the thickness of the support is made substantial so as toprovide a pair of opposed surfaces, the previously mentioned surface 34and the bottom surface 36, that'a're spaced a substantial distanceapart.

The securing means 32 of the head rest are so constructed that the headrest may be both easily and simply attached to and detached from eitherthe flat or rounded surfaces of the fixtures with which it is to beused. As may be noted particularly from Figs. 4 and 5, the securingmeans take the form of suction cups having concave inner suctionsurfaces 38. These cups are constructed in accordance with usual mannerfrom relatively resilient non-metallic material, preferably a grade ofrubber that issomewhat softer than the rubber from which the headsupport an is made. The cups may be secured to the support 30 in anyknown manner, as by means of brass screws 46 molded in the cups andadapted to be threaded into the under surface of the support. The cups32 may be molded or otherwise secured directly to the head rest, but itis important, in so far as the present invention is concerned, that theexterior surfaces 42 thereof consist only of resilient non-metallicmaterial so as to eliminate all possibility of the users body contactingany metal that may be used in securing the cup to the support. In thepresent embodiment it may be seen that this result is obtained byextending the upper end of the cup around the head 44 of the screw 40.

When it is desired to attach the head rest of the present invention tothe fiat surface of a basin, such as the flat rim l2 of a basin [4, itis necessary only to place the head rest upon the rim'and apply a slightamount of pressure thereon. Thereafter the head rest iszsecurely. heldin place by the suction principle which is well known to those skilledin the art and needs no further elaboration at this point. After thehead rest has been used it may be removed in a manner that is also wellknown to those skilled in the art and put away in some out of the wayplace, such as a cabinet. In use the head rest of the present inventionprovides a comfortable relatively soft support for the backof the head.The rubber exterior of the head rest eliminates all possibility of thebody of the person contacting any metal used in the construction of thehead rest and the substantial distance between the opposed surfaces 34and 36 eliminates practically all possibility of the body of the personcontacting any metal upon the fixture. A head rest constructed inaccordance with the present invention also eliminates all metal surfacesthat would be likely to become covered with rust after a long period ofuse.

A distinct advantage of the head rest of the present invention resides,as stated above, in the fact that it can be applied to either flat orrounded surfaces. It is shown mounted upon the rounded rim 26 of a bathtub in Fig. 2. While the rims of bath tubs such as illustrated arerelatively wide, the head rest may be constructed for use with fixtureshaving somewhat narrower rims by making the suction cups 32 withsomewhat smaller diameters.

The head rest can be used with practically any of the fixtures nowcommonly used either in homes or other establishments, such as ladieshair dressing parlors and barber shops. It requires no alteration in theconstruction of the fixtures as now installed, nor does it require thefixtures to be constructedfor the particular use for'which they areintended. When the head rest is used in'hair dressing establishments orbarber shops, it can be very easily covered by means of a small towel inorder to make its use sanitary.

The embodiment of the invention that has been described above for thepurpose of illustrating an embodiment of the invention may be modifiedto meet various conditions of use. It has already been suggested thatthe size of the suction cups may be varied and. it is contemplated thatthe proportions of the head support 3!) may likewise be varied asdesired. It is contemplated further that the relative hardness of therubber from which the support and suction cups are constructed may bevaried and that the suction cups themselves may be secured to thesupport in various ways.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by United States Letters Patentis as follows:

A head rest adapted to be mounted in secure but readily detachablefashion upon relatively flat or rounded rims of wash bowls, bath tubs,and the like, including in combination, a substantially solid resilientsupport, said support being substantially liquid impervious throughout,relatively short, of a width comfortably to receive the back of thehead, and provided with a pair of spaced apart opposed surfaces, one ofsaid surfaces being concave so as comfortably to support the back of thehead, and suction cups on the other of said surfaces for mounting thesupport upon the rim of the basin or the like in a secure but readilydetachable fashion with the concave surface of the support facing awayfrom the rim, said opposed surfaces being spaced apart a distance suchthat when the support is mounted in place, the concave surface is spacedfrom the surface of the rim a distance sufficient to prevent contact ofthe users head with the rim.

WILLIAM S. RICKARD.

